Magnus Chase and the Champions of Camelot
by Archibald Williamson
Summary: In anticipation for Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, I decided to write my own version of what happens after the sneak peak Rick gave in The Crown of Ptolemy. In this version, Magnus gets intercepted by a group called the "Champions of Camelot" before he can get thrown into whatever Norse adventure Rick has planned for him. Let me know if I should write more!


I first realized something was wrong when I saw the door. It was cracked open, just a little, so from a distance it still looked closed. Was Uncle Randolph already back? No, that was impossible. Even if he had headed straight here as soon as I heard he was looking for me, he still wouldn't be able to make it back first. That means there were only two possibilities.

1\. Uncle Randolph is an idiot who leaves his front door open, or 2. Someone else broke in, just like I was planning on doing. Well, I guess they'd have to be better at it than me. I can't pick locks to save my life.

I didn't know what to do. If someone else was in Uncle Randolph's house, they were probably robbing him. I wasn't looking for valuables, I just wanted information. But it still isn't a good idea to walk into a house in the middle of a burglary.

"Hey, how you doing? Don't worry, I won't call the cops or anything, I'm just looking for some stuff. You don't mind me, I won't mind you, right?" Yeah, that would end well.

Then I got an idea. What if I pretended I _did_ live there? Just walk in like I'm coming home after a tough day at school. Maybe the intruder would run away before I could call the cops.

In retrospect, that was a really dumb idea. I'm not even sure how I convinced myself to try it. But I did anyway. I walked into the house, pretending I was too tired to realize the door was open. I walked into what looked like the living room, expecting to see the place torn apart, then I'd act all surprised and scared, and hope the burglar would run off before I could get a good look at him.

What I didn't expect was to see a guy only a few years older than me lounging lazily on a rocking chair, looking expectantly at the doorway. When he noticed me, he smirked. I didn't know what to do.

"Uhmmm… what are you doing in my house?" I improvised.

"Oooooh, good try. But I'm afraid it's a little late to come up with something like that. Or perhaps a little early." He had a British accent. I stood there awkwardly, still not quite sure how to handle this.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, Magnus. I'm also not here to bring you to your uncle. I'm here to help you." Okay, now this guy was really freaking me out.

"How do you know my name?"

"I have my sources. Before I start explaining myself to you, though, we need to get out of here. You're in danger."

That sounded a lot like what Uncle Frederick said. Before I could respond, the weird British guy got up and picked up a long wooden pole from next to the chair.

"Follow me," he said.

"What, are playing billiards or something?" He gave me an annoyed look and walked through the door to his left. I didn't know what else to do, so I followed him. We walked into another hallway, but instead of leaving the house, as I expected, he opened another door on the left. It led into a bathroom.

I gave the guy a weird look, but he wasn't even paying attention to me. He turned on the bathwater and waited for the tub to fill. What was going on?

"Do you want me to wait outside, or…?" I asked awkwardly.

"Nope. And I don't want you to take your clothes off either. This water isn't for cleaning."

Ok, seriously, what? This was too weird. Was I dreaming? I pinched myself to make sure. Was this guy just completely coo-coo? Before I could decide what to do, however, he turned off the water, apparently satisfied with how full the tub was. Then he lifted the stick and stuck one end into the water.

I glanced at his face and saw him concentrating. Then I saw something I'd never forget. His irises suddenly changed from blue to a vivid, violent shade of purple. It's difficult to describe the how strong the color was. You'd have to see it to believe it. I was seriously freaking out by this point.

Then the water started to churn. It formed a mini-whirlpool around his staff, swirling faster and faster. It was a miracle it wasn't splashing everywhere. When the water was so fast I was getting dizzy just looking at it, he pulled his staff out with what looked like a lot of force. The water kept swirling, but in the center of the vortex, a bright light the same color as his eyes began to grow.

When the light was half the size of the tub, the water began to slow down. Eventually it settled at a lazy pace.

"Well, after you," the guy said impatiently.

I stumbled backwards into the hall and tried to say "What are you?" but what came out was something like "h-h-hoo-haauroooo?"

The British guy rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Look, you're going to go through the portal whether you want to or not. I'd really rather not force you in and I don't have time to explain right now, so if you would be so kind as to hurry the process, would you please just get in the tub?"

In the back of my mind, the one small part of me that wasn't completely freaked out was coming up with a bunch of jokes about a guy inviting me into a bathtub, but to this day I can't remember any of them.

The guy gave me about five seconds before he apparently ran out of patience. He raised his hand and shouted something. Then these weird glowing symbols appeared in the air in front of him.

ᛋᛚᚫᛈᚪᚾ

And that was when I lost consciousness.


End file.
